Analysis

These 'once in a lifetime' exhibitions are becoming part of everyday life. But this one really is something special.

Seven out of the nine Leonardo da Vinci paintings on display have never been shown publicly in this country before. It is the first - and quite possibly the last - time that the Louvre's The Virgin of the Rocks (1483-86) has ever left the French museum.

For me, the unfinished St Jerome (1482) is a highlight. Lent by the Vatican, it exemplifies the renaissance artist's remarkable compositional skills, exceptional draughtsmanship and intricate painting technique.

Da Vinci primed the wooden panels on which he painted with a white paint, over which he would apply outline drawings and further, thin layers of paint.

The effect is to create pictures that not only have a three dimensional quality, but also a glowing inner light. They might be over 500 years old, but they looked pretty modern to me.

The Louvre in Paris, the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and the Vatican Art Gallery in Rome are among the institutions to loan works to the exhibition.

Organisers say it is "the most complete display of Leonardo's rare surviving paintings" ever brought together in one place.

Members of the press got their chance to inspect the exhibition on Tuesday and have been lavish in their praise.

"It's the hottest ticket in town," wrote Richard Dorment in the Daily Telegraph in his four-star review.